The C99 language standard added support for variable length arrays (VLAs):

 void foo(int len){  float myArray[len];  ... }

In porting some C# code to C++, I had a method signature like that, so I tried to use a VLA. Sadly, VC++ 2005 produces "error C2057: expected constant expression," "error C2466 …

Word is that Borland has come to an agreement with a still-secret savior to purchase and support "DevCo": the former languages and tools division.

Details as they emerge, but that won't be for a few weeks

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NaturallySpeaking 9, coming out in August, claims to dramatically reduce the time it takes to model your voice, achieving the best-possible recognition soon after opening the box.

For some people, that best-possible recognition is said to be 99%. Maybe. I've probably gone throught the "voice training" process a dozen or …

The last thing I saw last night was something about "Do not turn off or remove the power cord from your computer" for some no-doubt-critical update. This morning, my desktop doesn't POST. It hangs right at the point the RAM count happens.

Now, I don't think an OS upgrade can …

When Software Development was killed, I predicted that Dr. Dobb's wouldn't change markedly. Boy, was I wrong. Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Erickson and Publisher Stan Barnes clearly decided that the time had come to create what is essentially a new magazine: I don't think Dobb's has changed this much since at least …

One of the cable channels (FX, I think) has been playing "The Core" in medium rotation lately. I've been trying to expose myself to it in small amounts, to inoculate myself and accept it as cheesy "so bad it's good" fun(ref. "The Fast and the Furious": One of my …

InfoWorld's Tom Yager wrote a column on the benefits of native code, but then went off the deep end with:

Here's a native code prediction that's way under your radar: We'll see more use of assembly language. ...Developers coding for new, controlled deployments can afford to set high requirements that …

When I feel listless, I sometimes try to whet my brain by rubbing it on quantum mechanics, which requires math that's absurdly difficult for a dilettante to understand. For years I've tinkered at implementing a simulator for programming quantum computers and really haven't gotten anywhere. Well, now I can use …

The Catalogue of Variable Frequency and Single-Resistance-Controlled Oscillators Employing A Single Differential Difference Complementary Current Conveyor which I imagine is self-explanatory to electrical engineers. Silver went to Multiobjective Genetic Algorithms for Multiscaling Excited-State Direct Dynamics in Photochemistry. Bronze prizes went to two things that I could actually understand:  A multi-population …